simulacra75

Hi there I'm looking for some advice. I currently have CM12 SP1 CU3 installed in our environment using MDT 2012 integrated with CM12. All is working just fine and we use a combination of UDI and MDT Task sequences to deploy our OSes. I was thinking about upgrading to MDT 2013 but i'm just wondering if it's actually "worth" it? Is it possible to have MDT 2012 and MDT 2013 running simultaneously on my CM12 CAS/PRI? If i cannot run them simultaneously how can i ensure that replacing MDT 2012 with 2013 won't screw up the existing scripts/tweaks that are already in place? Your thoughts are appreciated.

My 2 cents; If it's installed on the same server as the Primary CM12 installation then that's one less SQL license you need to worry about, CM12 comes with a SQL license bundled but only if the SQL instance is installed on the same server as your CM12 installation. I guess you could class that as a "pro" If your SQL instance is remote there is more configuration required in terms of security and setting up SQL Server Reporting Services (for CM12 reporting) can be a little head-wrecking (in my experience at least), your mileage may differ. How close are you to the SQL team? Will they give you all the resources (memory, etc) that you ask for? Will they bump it up for you at a moments notice, if you needed it? Will they give you admin access to the database itself? Since i do not know your internal organizations policies/practices these are questions you need to consider. We have a CM12 Primary with approximately 5,000 CM12 client machines (not users) and it's a VMware running Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and 16GB RAM with 2 x Intel Xeons @2.7GHz. It connects to a remote SQL instance but it's performance is very good for us. You'll need to check MS documentation to find what's right for you and your organization. Another primary does have the SQL instance locally but the number of clients on it is approximately 1,000. It's the same config as above, except it has 20GB RAM. Works fine for us also.

Hi there I've setup a CI that checks for the presence of the Symantec Endpoint Protection service in the registry of a client computer and if it's not found the client is then "non-compliant". This works just fine and is useful in detecting client machines where anti-virus is not installed. Since setting this up i've been told that there are some client machines in our organization that have another anti-virus product installed due to incompatibilities with the Symantec product. What i'd like to try and due is modify my CI so that it checks for the presence of SEP or "another product" and if neither are found then report as "non-compliant". Does this make sense? Has anybody had any luck creating CI's with conditional OR statements in them? I'm just not seeing how it can be done, or indeed, if it's even possible. Thank you.

Well, i hate to be the bearer of bad news, and i sincerely hope that i'm wrong but the error code that DISM is returning ( 0x800f0830) corresponds to CBS_E_IMAGE_UNSERVICEABLE. This implies that your image is indeed corrupted by the offline "scheduled updates" process and you're not alone in this, it has happened to many more admins. If you mount the .WIM perhaps you can check setupact.log and setuperr.log in C:\windows\Panther or perhaps, CBS.log in C:\windows\logs to confirm (or hopefully disprove) this.

Shouldn't it actually be cscript.exe "%scriptroot%\ZTIBackup.wsf"

Personally, i would do a Build & Capture process using your "stock" WIM and ensure that all approved Software Updates are assigned to whatever collection that B&C machine is located in. Then in the B&C Task Sequence make sure you have a Apply Software Updates command in there, this way your stock image gets all of the approved software updates. In addition performing the B&C allows you to "bake in" some of the standard software (if you have it) into the image, e.g., Flash, Silverlight, Adobe Reader, etc and this means when your performing an OSD these apps don't need to be in your TS. That's my 2 cents anyways.

I suppose the obvious question is, what is the Task Sequence actually trying to execute during the "run command line" indicated above. It must be in the actual Build & Capture Task Sequence so what command is attempting to execute?

As far as I know the actual wizard is unable to access/read USB devices over 32GB (open to correction on this). I believe that you can use command line parameters to CreateMedia.exe that allows use of these drives but have never done this myself. I have successfully used a 64GB drive, however. Run the wizard again and create an unlimited size ISO, instead of pointing it to the USB drive. Once finished mount that ISO file using your software of choice. I personally use Virtual CloneDrive. Once mounted go to a command line and type: xcopy <mounted ISO drive letter>\*.* <USB drive letter>\ /e /s. Be sure to carry out the steps you've already outlined above in terms of formatting, assigning, activating partition, etc before doing the xcopy. Once the copy completes the drive should be bootable. At least mine was. I hit another issue after this but that's another story and not related to the actual creation of the bootable USB drive.

To my knowledge, No, Distribution Points do not need the same security rights on the Systems Management OU in AD. I have an environment with over 70 DP's globally and none of these were given any particular rights on the Systems Management OU and they work just fine. Hope this helps.

On a client machine open the registry (regedit.exe) and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate The values contained in this regsitry key will tell you where your clients are attempting to go for Software Updates. You should see the name of your Primary Site server (or whatever server you have the Software Update Point role installed) located in here.

I'm assuming that you do actually have the Task Sequence deployed to the "Unknown Computers" collection and that you've made that deployment "Available" to PXE media?

Try putting the below into your CustomSettings.ini file [Default] SkipFinalSummary = YES

Hi there. We have a package in CM12 (SAPGUI 7.30) that IT admins can choose to install during the OSD process. SAPGUI 7.30 requires Office 2010 to be installed or it will not install correctly. I have setup a dependency in MDT that installs Office 2010 if SAPGUI 7.30 is selected during UDI. So far, so good. Where i have a problem is in geographical locations where they require a different language version of Office 2010 installed. The needed language version of Office 2010 does indeed exist, that's not the problem, it's the installation of SAPGUI where i'm stuck. For example, i have an IT admin in China who wants to install SAPGUI but if he selects it in the UDI, Office 2010 in English gets installed (due to the dependency i've setup). Ideally what i would like to achieve is when an admin selects SAPGUI that they somehow get prompted (or perhaps some other method) that Office 2010 must be installed also (and that whatever language version they choose actually gets installed before SAPGUI gets installed). Does this make sense to anyone? Thanks

Below is a snippet from the log file where i believe is the problem. I could be wrong but i think this is it. I've highlighted where i believe the issue is but am open to correction. Any advice/suggestions? Many Thanks Expand a string: FullOS Executing command line: smsswd.exe /pkg: /install /basevar:PACKAGES /continueOnError:True [ smsswd.exe ] PackageID = '' BaseVar = 'PACKAGES', ContinueOnError='True' ProgramName = '' SwdAction = '0003' DSInstaller::Execute() Setting progress step for initialization Setting total steps to 1 Succeeded loading resource DLL 'C:\WINDOWS\CCM\1033\TSRES.DLL' Env variable with specified basename PACKAGES and suffix '001' is found. Initializing Dynamic install action sMp.empty()==false, HRESULT=80004005 (e:\nts_sccm_release\sms\framework\tscore\utils.cpp,5543) MP name must be set in an environment variable Non fatal error occured while processing UDA settings. Code 0x80004005 TS::Utility::PrepareTransport(m_oHttpTransport), HRESULT=80004005 (e:\nts_sccm_release\sms\client\osdeployment\installsoftware\dsutils.cpp,484) Failed to intialize, hr=0x80004005 dsUtil.Init(), HRESULT=80004005 (e:\nts_sccm_release\sms\client\osdeployment\installsoftware\dsinstaller.cpp,204) dsInstaller.Execute(), HRESULT=80004005 (e:\nts_sccm_release\sms\client\osdeployment\installsoftware\main.cpp,344) Process completed with exit code 2147500037 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------! Failed to run the action: Install Packages from UDI Wizard. Unspecified error (Error: 80004005; Source: Windows) Do not send status message in full media case Set a global environment variable _SMSTSLastActionRetCode=-2147467259 Set a global environment variable _SMSTSLastActionSucceeded=false Clear local default environment Let the parent group (State Restore) decides whether to continue execution Let the parent group (Execute Task Sequence) decide whether to continue execution The group (Execute Task Sequence) ignored action failure and continue execution on the next step following the group. Updated security on object C:\_SMSTaskSequence. Set a global environment variable _SMSTSNextInstructionPointer=265 Set a TS execution environment variable _SMSTSNextInstructionPointer=265 Set a global environment variable _SMSTSInstructionStackString= Set a TS execution environment variable _SMSTSInstructionStackString= Save the current environment block Successfully save execution state and environment to local hard disk

Apologies for the late response, i should be able to get this to you tomorrow. I did try to PM you but your mailbox is full.

Hi there, i've asked the below on myitforum but got no reponses at all. Was hoping that someone here could shed some light or help me with this. Many Thanks Hi there I'm hoping that someone can shed light on the problem i'm having. We've upgraded to CM12 SP1 CU3 across our enterprise and imaging from PXE and USB boot media works fine for us (it was all pulled into CM12 from our existing SCCM 2007 infrastructure). I have been playing around a bit in an attempt to speed up the imaging process (currently taking approx. 2 hours). What i was hoping to do was create a 64GB USB 3.0 drive as a complete stand-alone media for use in our organization. I have been able to create the media (diskpart, CreateMedia,etc) and the total size of all files on the flash drive afterwards seems to be about 34GB. So far, so good. When i attempt to run OSD from the flash drive all goes well, i can see all the screens from MDT 2012 and the application selection screen, the process runs, installs all the applicable drivers for whatever machine i am attempting to image. Where the process falls down is when it gets to installing the applications that can be selected during the MDT sequence. This is under our State Restore section of UDI. If i look in the error logs there is a mention of SMSTSMP not found (something like that) and OSD fails with an error. The irritating thing about it all is that the machine has the OS actually installed, it has been joined to the domain, correct OU, etc but it seems to fail at the final hurdle, so to speak. It also is really really fast in comparison to what we are used to (takes 20 minutes from start to finish). I would love to get this running in our environment and it would make the whole OSD process faster than we've ever experienced. Does anyone have any experience with an issue like this?