Trevor Sullivan

You'd have to compare and contrast the list of updates you're deploying in Configuration Manager with the list of updates that is being shown in the Windows Update screen. See if there are any major products (eg. Microsoft Office 2013) missing from your SUP configuration in Configuration Manager, that have updates shown in the Windows Update screen. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan

Hello Scott, Trusts There should be a two-way transitive trust between the parent (forest root) and child Active Directory domains by default. Schema Extensions There is only one schema for an entire Active Directory forest. Someone who is a member of the Schema Admins security group for the forest will need to apply the schema extensions. All they have to do is execute the extadsch.exe file off of the Configuration Manager setup media. Keep in mind that the schema updates are not mandatory for using Configuration Manager. It merely simplifies client service location requests. [Microsoft Technet] Planning for Service Location by Clients Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Saying that the Application model isn't designed to be used in a Task Sequence would not be accurate. Is it buggy? Sure. Did Microsoft think through everything before they implemented it? No. But, that doesn't mean that it wasn't designed for use in a Task Sequence either. The very existence of the Install Application task sequence item type proves that it was intended for this purpose. One thing that Microsoft left out was the ability to declare a PowerShell execution policy that applies during the Task Sequence. If you don't put in a couple of registry hacks within your Task Sequence, then PowerShell script-based Detection Method rules for your Application Deployment Types will fail. For what it's worth, I've probably spent a total of 40+ hours (honestly, that is a conservative estimate) working on this issue, and have not come up with any firm answers. In my most recent testing from today, I have discovered that by reverting to an older Build & Capture Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit operating system image (WIM), the Install Application task sequence items in the Deployment task sequence seems to be working successfully. The best I can guess is that there is something inside the newer Build & Capture WIM that is breaking the Install Application task sequence item. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

What do you mean by "scan disk?" ConfigMgr doesn't automatically run any type of disk scanning jobs. If you're talking about hardware or software inventory, then you would control those features by using the Client Settings package node in the ConfigMgr console. You would have to create a custom Client Settings package, and then deploy it to a collection of systems that you want to target. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Jon, As long as you make all the appropriate modifications to the advertisement, you should be just fine. On the "new" computers, the advertisement would not run until the new schedule is met. If you remove the old, mandatory schedules, the "new" computers will not see them. That being said, I would suggest that it's probably not good practice to re-use advertisements. And as always, test this functionality prior to putting it into production. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello, If you are having problems installing the ConfigMgr client, then I would imagine that you should be looking at ccmsetup.log? What errors are you getting in there? What is the target operating system you're working with? Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello, You can still call batch files (.cmd or .bat extension) in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. It sounds to me like your clients are getting a corrupted policy pulled from the management point. Are you sure that your infrastructure is healthy? Are you using the new application model, or regular package/programs? Have you examined the site server logs to see what's going on? What operating system is your primary site(s) running on? Have you applied Cumulative Update 1 (CU1) to your ConfigMgr 2012 site(s) and client agents? Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Posting contents of an e-mail exchange: Although you may have enabled command support (F8) testing in your boot image, you must update the boot image on your distribution points for this change to take effect. Since you are not using PXE booting, you must also manually update your boot media after the distribution points have finished updating. The 0x80004005 (Access Denied) error message that you are receiving can be caused by many different reasons, not necessarily permissions related. For example, you might receive this if there is no network connectivity to the ConfigMgr site server, which is obviously not a permissions-related problem. This can happen if: The client cannot route to the site server The client cannot resolve DNS for the site server There is no network access account configured (other reason, stated in the smsts.log) The first paragraph above should help you get command support testing enabled, and from there, you should be able to find your smsts.log. This will be your best bet in helping you to discover what is going wrong. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Did you duplicate another task sequence, or build a new one? Did you select a 64-bit boot image instead of a 32-bit boot image? What is the error you're getting when the task sequence fails? Have you checked the smsts.log to see what's going on? You'll want to enable command prompt support in your boot images, which will allow you to find and open smsts.log. Depending on where you are at in the task sequence, it will be in different locations. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

I'm not sure what you mean. Which boot method do you want to use? PXE, USB flash drives, optical media, and a WinPE WIM installed on the local hard drive are all options. Can you please clarify what you are after? Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

I'm not sure what you mean. Which boot method do you want to use? PXE, USB flash drives, optical media, and a WinPE WIM installed on the local hard drive are all options. Can you please clarify what you are after? Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Are the clients showing that they are assigned to a site? It sounds like they client is getting installed, but they are failing to perform site assignment, which results in a DDR not getting created, which means that they won't show up as objects in the console. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

+1 vote for build & capture base image on virtual hardware. VMware Workstation works perfectly for this. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

What is the problem that you're experiencing? Are you getting error messages? Need more specifics. By the way, you've got a massive task sequence there, considering the relatively simple task at hand! I would recommend taking the time to engineer a task sequence from the ground up that has only the steps that you specifically need in it. This isn't something that is done overnight. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Open PowerShell and run this command to get the build number: $Site = Get-CimInstance -Namespace root\sms\site_LAB -ClassName SMS_Site; $Site | Select-Object -Property BuildNumber,SiteCode; Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello, Why are your workstations not registered in DNS? Having a properly working DNS infrastructure is critical to many things, and most importantly, Active Directory. I would recommend resolving the DNS resolution issue and then trying the discovery again. "Use Configuration Manager Active Directory System Discovery to search the specified Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) locations for computer resources that can be used to create collections and queries. You can then install the client to discovered computers by using client push installation. To successfully create a discovery data record (DDR) for a computer, Active Directory System Discovery must be able to identify the computer account and then successfully resolve the computer name to an IP address. By default, Active Directory System Discovery discovers basic information about the computer including the following: Computer name Operating system and version Active Directory container name IP address Active Directory site Last Logon Timestamp In addition to the basic information, you can configure the discovery of extended attributes from Active Directory Domain Services. You can view the default list of object attributes returned by Active Directory System Discovery, and configure additional attributes to be discovered in the Active Directory System Discovery Properties dialog box on the Active Directory Attributes tab. For more information about how to configure this discovery method, see Configure Active Directory Discovery in Configuration Manager. Active Directory System Discovery actions are recorded in the file adsysdis.log in the <InstallationPath>\LOGS folder on the site server." From: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg712308.aspx#BKMK_ADSystemDisc Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

1. Not necessarily. You would need to set up a trust between the domains in order to manage the client systems in <other domain>. 2. The Active Directory changes boil down to two parts: 1) the System Management container, and 2) schema updates. The schema updates are not absolutely necessary, but it makes client site assignment much easier. 3. Yes, although that would be a relatively odd configuration, especially with ConfigMgr 2012. What are you trying to achieve by having separate ConfigMgr hierarchies? With ConfigMgr 2012 role-based administration, you shouldn't need multiple hierarchies. 4. It's not impossible to install, if you understand the prerequisites. SQL server must be installed prior to installation of ConfigMgr. You should consult the Technet documentation for more information about prerequisites. Supported Configurations for Configuration Manager: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682077 Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

What exactly are you trying to achieve? Chances are one of the BCD tools, such as bcdedit.exe or bcdboot.exe will help with what you're looking for. Do you need to create new boot entries in the Boot Configuration Datastore, or remove them? Look at the aforementioned tools for that functionality, or clarify what exactly you want to do. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello Erik, We'll need a lot more information than just that to help you out. That being said, the error number that you posted (0x800700CE) translates into this message: "The filename or extension is too long." Given this, you might want to try checking the logs on the client to see the length of the URL it's trying to access. Also, examine the IIS logs on the BITS-enabled distribution point. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello, The error message 0x80070570 translates into this text: "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable." Given the nature of this message, it sounds like perhaps you have a supporting software, driver, or operating system image package that is corrupted. I would recommend ensuring that all of your distribution points. You can probably find out more detail about which package is failing, or any other details, by examining the smsts.log file on the system that is failing to run the task sequence. As far as why you are unable to use F12 to PXE boot the system again, it is probably due to the Windows Deployment Services (WDS) cache timeout value, on the server that holds the WDS role. You can find out more information about how to change this value from this article written by Jason Sandys (@JasonSandys on Twitter). http://www.myitforum.com/articles/1/view.asp?id=12603 I hope this helps push you in the right direction to resolving your problem! Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello, There are a lot of guides out there on how to build & manage driver packages. I would strongly suggest starting out with the Microsoft Technet documentation, which contains very helpful guidance on the steps to take to build up a reliable driver management system. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd348456(v=ws.10).aspx Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello Rob, First off, you'll want to find out if the last guy who managed your ConfigMgr infrastructure set up PXE booting by using 1) DHCP options, or 2) IP helper addresses on the routers. Depending on the answer to this, will determine how you continue troubleshooting. If your network is using IP helper addresses, is it possible that the network team disabled this configuration on the routers recently? Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello, It sounds like most likely your problem is the setting to re-run the program every time. By default, I believe it is set to "re-run if failed," but since technically these workstations have run that packageID/program before successfully, they will not run it again even though you have specified a mandatory advertisement. So, to resolve this, you should set the advertisement to "always re-run." Hope this helps! Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello, I would recommend ensuring that the applications are not configured to ignore errors. If the task sequence item group, or individual items, have that setting configured, then the task sequence would appear to run correctly, but the applications would still fail. You'll want to examine your smsts.log file to find out what is going wrong. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86

Hello, You may want to consider wrapping the command in a batch file, or other script file, which you can directly instruct to exit with a return value of 0. In batch, you simply do: exit 0 In VBscript, you do: wscript.quit(0) In PowerShell, you simply do: exit 0 Hope this helps. Cheers, Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net http://twitter.com/pcgeek86